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X. - Ascendancy
Ascendancy - 1400 to 1415

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Where last we left off, I was hovering indecisively over the button to Form the Aztec Nation. That button was grayed out as this session began, so I go about my regular EU3 business, waiting for it to return.

Towards the end of 1400, we make another Free Subjects move. The increased rights and privileges of the peasantry apparently make us look weak in the eyes of our neighbors. We inform our neighbors (all 1 of them) that if they care so much, they can call us 'weak' to the faces of our 42,000-man army, mightiest in the hemisphere. Our vassal, Huastec, nods sheepishly and goes about its merry way, quietly dreading its rapidly-approaching fate.

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The following March, the button returns. My inability to access the Aztec files in Death and Taxes means that we will be stuck with a Mexica label and kings, but we're Tarascan where it counts - in our Tarascan culture, and the capital, Tzintzuntzan. Our cazonci takes up several crowns at a ceremony in Mexico, including the old Aztec title of Hue Tlatoani, and 'High King of the Yucatan'. Eyes will mist for centuries to come at the mention of the beautiful tale of 'aztec_nation_desc'.

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The rejuvenated Tarascan state celebrates by renouncing all treaties with the Huasteca. As the vassalization is broken, and we gain cores on all three of the Huastec provinces, a new mission for our nation arises - to wipe out the Huasteca once and for all.

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Speaking of cores, tag-switching to the Aztecs has granted us cores on the entire Aztec region, including three uncolonized provinces in between our territories. No colonists are yet forthcoming, so these cores remain frustratingly outside of our grasp for the foreseeable future.

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At the beginning of July 1401, our armies cross the border, and the conquest of the Huastec nation is at hand.

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The Huastec army is defeated first at Tohancapan, and then at the capital at Huastecas. Our forces fan out to lay siege to the entire country.

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The sieges continue into the next year, with only occasional resistance from Huastec troops as the defenses of their cities continue to be battered away. News arrives from the west, as a new region enters the Empire, completely unexpectedly. An independent Tarascan chiefdom in Sayultecas decides to throw its lot in with its larger cousins to the south, expanding our control further up the Pacific coast.

It occurs to me now that this same event likely struck the Kan Pech, and that they never had colonists at all - thus how they controlled Guatemala for all of a month before our armies moved in to conquer them. What is a great boon for us proved to be the Maya's undoing.

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A captured slaves event triggers - I'm going to miss this when the days of Mesoamerican conquest are over.

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The resource in Sayultecas proves to be wool. Just what is producing the wool I cannot imagine - perhaps the locals are corralling bighorn sheep, or llamas have made the way north from the recently-discovered Andean kingdoms.

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The new province also shows us a previously unknown, distant COT, the Sindhu Delta. As with the other two we have been afflicted with, its distance makes it useless to us.

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Almost 2 years after the invasion began, the last Huastec fortresses are under our control. We annex the nation, completing the 50-year conquest of Cem Anahuac for the Tarascan Empire.

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This victory notwithstanding, our cazonci lasts only two years longer before his achievements are forgotten, and he winds up dead somewhere on the road between Tzintzuntzan and Tenochtitlan. A new and more impressive leader, Auitzotl, rises to power in his place.

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Yes, yes, this event is just hilarious. Why does this keep firing?

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Events that actually effect us, however, do come further on down the line. The stability hit and loss of 68,000 manpower sounds nasty, so I take the discipline hit instead. This proves to be a poor choice later on when rebellions in the Yucatan flare up again, but lessons have to be learned.

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Also in 1412 comes more interesting news, as a new kingdom, larger than any others yet contacted, is discovered amidst the Andes. The Aymara seem to be the predominant power in South America at present.

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Our conquests from the Great Mexican War of the 1370s core around this time, Mixtec first, and then the Zapotec lands.

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Another slider move comes, and this time we choose to move toward Innovative. It looks as though it won't particularly hurt our chances of getting colonists (at the moment, 0), and we could really use the help in pushing our technology forwards.

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In April 1413, the Zapotec culture finally grows to full acceptance in our nation. There is now no longer any revolt risk in our Empire, west of the Yucatan at least.

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In June 1415, we notice that the COT of Malabar has finally reached 800 in value, and we take advantage of this fact to liberate the provinces of the New World from the tyranny of distance centers of trade. We ultimately choose Mixtec as the spot for our new center of trade. Adjacent to our national focus, it is a fairly populous and wealthy province. Contrary to my misgivings, the COT does not stagnate to any noticeable degree as soon as I open my markets to the South American kingdoms (they haven't discovered the province and so can't trade there, but I could swear opening my markets increased the center's value nonetheless). As of the time of this writing (namely, around the late 1430s in-game) it still hasn't, so it seems to be a worthwhile investment after all.

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The COT's coastal placement also offers another bonus:

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At last, we're gaining colonists, however slowly. We expect our first colonist to arrive some time in the 1440s.

... It's going to be a long century.
 
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Great AAR! My only fear is that when the Europeans arrive you will go from having lots of time to none at all!
 
I get that sense as well. I'll probably drop the speed down and recruit like hell, damn the economic consequences.
 
One colonist by 1440? And one more every twenty years? Score ;-P. As for the Europeans, I am not usually that much of an early colonizer myself (playing Portugal or Castille/Spain never appealed to me) but they arrive in Mexico in the early 1500s, do they not? How are your tech levels going to be by then?
 
Hope for more of those expansion events, get Colonial Ventures (0.4 colonists per year) and that's probably it for now regarding more colonization. QftNW can offer you missions that give colonists but the prereqs for QftNW in D&T are quite high. And the bonus for coastal CoTs has been halved and with the stagnation issues you won't get many up and running. Let's hope that the europeans start their colonisation a bit later than usual.
 
One colonist by 1440? And one more every twenty years? Score ;-P. As for the Europeans, I am not usually that much of an early colonizer myself (playing Portugal or Castille/Spain never appealed to me) but they arrive in Mexico in the early 1500s, do they not? How are your tech levels going to be by then?

I'm not certain. I'm projecting somewhere between 13 and 16 land tech when the Euros arrive, in all likelihood, with all the other techs a couple levels behind that.
 
Which one, the one I stick at the top of the posts? :) I nicked it from the top of the modern Coat of Arms of the state of Michoacán, and it's the same syllable as that of the flag of the Tarascans in-game. So I assume it's a legitimate Pre-Hispanic symbol.

I'm not sure what it's supposed to symbolize, but the shape of the frog-shaped emblem reminds me of Lake Patzcuaro, the lake that Tzintzuntzan was located next to.
 
XI. - The Sacred Round Turns
The Sacred Round Turns - 1415 to 1435

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It's not pretty work, but one of the vagaries of fate has jumbled the order of the screenshots for this segment in my imgur library. Thankfully, I put dates on the screenshots, so it should all be in order. Just ignore any that slip through out of order.

Where was I? The first quarter of the 15th Century is progressing. The Europeans can't even choose QFTNW until 1500, so I should be safe for some time yet. Unfortunately, my inability to march to South America and beat up the Andean powers to pass the time means that, for now, I'll need to sit up here and wait for colonists to tic.

In 1417, the number of Tarascan nobles and petits bourgeois heading to our new COT at Mixtec cause a demographic shift in the important province.

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Later that year, some smart fellow in Tehuantepec harnesses a herd of guinea pigs to a plow, dramatically increasing the region's agricultural output. We levy this population growth into greater taxes in the province.

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Meanwhile in the capital, some nasty slander is spread by opponents of the current cazonci's regime. Auitzotl decides to have the whole lot put to death, which really doesn't help the situation any.

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Yet another province reaches our ken in the continent to the south. We have reason to think that there's two more kingdoms in the south, but there's no telling when we might come into contact with them.

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By 1421, the recently-subjugated Mixtec and Huastec peoples finally seem to have come to terms with our superiority.

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An innovative move causes grave concerns amongst the clergy and nobility as people begin to think for themselves.

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The nobles get sick of our cazonci's poor reputation once again, and decide to replace them with a fairly awful ruler.

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The first few years of the new cazonci's reign pass quietly. By 1432, all of the former Maya provinces have become our cores, and our little corner of the world is united and cored under our magnanimous rule at long last.

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As 1433 ends, we reach Government tech 6, at long last giving us our first national idea. It's a tough choice, but ultimately I choose Grand Army to let us improve our numerical advantage over the eventual European would-be-conquerors even more. Colonial Ventures looked tempting, but I'll have time to colonize what I need even without it.

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Tlacotzin bites the big one, and the much better Tizoc II arrives on the scene. Hopefully he fares better than his 3-3-3 namesake.

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In April 1435, we fight what is probably our last nationalist/patriot revolt in all of Mesoamerica. The revolt risk all over is zero, so the rest of the time until contact is bound to be quiet.

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Somewhere in the Mexican highlands, prospectors hit it big and discover a heretofore unknown vein of gold in the hills. The cazonci looks into expanding the palace's treasury room.

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A further agricultural revolution comes in the former Zapotec lands as farmers realize that imported llamas make for better draft animals than herds of guinea pigs. We take this opportunity to raise the base tax in Tehuantepec even more.

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In November, at long last, we reach Land tech 8, unlocking a variety of new options for our front line infantry. We soon phase out the Native Spearmen in favor of the American Forest Warriors, the most balanced of the new units in shock and morale. It isn't a whole lot better than what we were using beforehand, but when the judgement day arrives, we could use every edge we have.

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About as dangerous as a wet napkin. But wet napkins will, when in bulk, smother a Spaniard! ;)
 
Ah, if only you didn't have a giant naval tech penalty as a Mesoamerican. It would open up interesting, if not necessarily useful alternatives for defending yourself against the eventual European onslaught.
 
Nice update! :)
 
Ah, if only you didn't have a giant naval tech penalty as a Mesoamerican. It would open up interesting, if not necessarily useful alternatives for defending yourself against the eventual European onslaught.

Settling Taiwan and the moving the capital there so they cannot annex you? ;)
 
Nice work, pretty sure I'd have gone for more colonists on the NI but I always end up spamming colnies no matter who I play :(


Ah, if only you didn't have a giant naval tech penalty as a Mesoamerican. It would open up interesting, if not necessarily useful alternatives for defending yourself against the eventual European onslaught.

Settling Taiwan and the moving the capital there so they cannot annex you? ;)

This might sound crazy but what about invading Europe...
 
I dont think that will help. The Europeans will have a Colonial Conquest on you. They can actually take your land province for province and gain a very small infamy hit, like .6 if im not mistaken.
0.8 in negotiations, 1.0 when seizing, but yes, fleeing to Taiwan would not prevent annexation. (Not that the Eastern Asian nations wouldn't try to annex you, either)